First , I want to thank all here who share and contribute their knowledge and experience. As a new member I've done tons of reading in the past several days and have been "educated" by some of the stuff here.
My question is, Are there any women here who own the business and are out there working solo?

65hoss

11-28-2001, 09:17 AM

Yes, we do have some very knowledgable women that contribute greatly here. I have seen a few women in my area doing this work. A few work solo, and several work with another woman partner. Honestly, as a owner, I wouldn't mind having a woman out doing the job. In many cases they work harder (possibly to prove something), and they will complain a lot less than some whinning boys.

65hoss

11-28-2001, 09:19 AM

My family is from northeast MS. Over the years I've spent a lot of time there. Where at in NE MS are you in? You can PM if you would like.

odin

11-28-2001, 02:39 PM

For 3 seasons one of my sisters in law was our best worker.
she kept us working harder .She had to retire from the outfit to help her daughter raises her grandson.There isnt to many women around my area in the biz but the ones who are ,are quite sucessful.If you can do the hard work and are thinking of going are already solo i wish you good luck and hope you grow your companey fast.I say go for it

ps I was born and raised in mississippi in batesville pope area

awm

11-28-2001, 03:02 PM

employee,emplyer. buisness owner solo . none of it has to do with a persons gender. its about buisiness skill and skill and
high standards in what we do day in ,day out . later now

Runner

11-28-2001, 03:06 PM

I think Jodi lets her husband work for her, once in a while.:D

odin

11-28-2001, 03:21 PM

Originally posted by awm
. none of it has to do with a persons gender.

I agree but we still have many people who live in old tradtions
and women have not been traditionaly in the lawn care landscapeing industry.My point is i would like to see more and more diversity in the biz.I think women should be incouraged to join in our business

Here in the southeast suburbs of chicago there are lots of black and hispanic companies but almost no women owned although the ones that are women owned are successful.

just my .02

gogetter

11-28-2001, 06:17 PM

I see tons of trucks and trailers everyday, and yet I haven't seen a woman once around here!!

A few years back when I was delivering furniture, we used to see this one company that had 2 or 3 young, very attractive girls working for them. Bikini tops on under sleeveless t-shirts and cut off denim shorts. We'd see them every couple weeks in different apartment complexes running mowers, trimmers, doing it all. I'd try not to stare, but man!
They worked with a couple young guys. I don't know if it was family, or what.

But I've definately never seen a woman working solo though. Would be interesting.

odin

11-28-2001, 07:20 PM

GOGETTER

I would think the reason for that would be the backbreaking work it takes when you are solo

Not that there aint some up to the task like chynna the wrestler
But she is the exception.
Most women i know in the biz around here are owners or in a familey outfit ,where the workload and business decisions are shared.Just maintaining equipment can be a job.
The combination of long hours maintaining equipment would be tough on a lady who went solo ,its tough on a man
But i think if a lady is dedicated and strong willed she could do it.

Scotlawncare

11-28-2001, 07:34 PM

Think about this guys. YOUR lawn company name on the shirts that the girls gogetter described. I think business would pick up FAST.

I have two ladies cutting a yard down the road from me. Lawnmower rolled out of the back of a mini van. They did a great job too. Personally I'd like to see more women in this field. They can deal with problem customers better then men can. I don't think I'll mess with a woman with a Stilh weed eater with a brush blade on it.

cantoo

11-28-2001, 07:40 PM

My wife does the day to day work for our part time business. The last year I have helped out whenever I can but she does most of it by herself. She gets along much better than I do with the customers and they aren't afraid to ask her any questions. When new people call us asking for estimates etc and she answers the phone they then ask for the owner and most are quite surprised when she says she is the owner. They are also surprised when she pulls up driving the cube van and backs perfectly into the driveway. Takes me two or three tries. Most days she can outwork me, especially in hot weather. She really gets along well with the women customers, we all know that the women are the ones who really make the decisions. She is always getting extra work from them, everything from cleaning windows to planting flowers to painting.

odin

11-28-2001, 07:46 PM

cantoo

When my sister in law worked with us the cilents just loved her .
They loved her southern accent .

And believe me she was a tough taskmaster and worked as hard as us

dj'slawnservice

11-28-2001, 07:53 PM

[QUOTE]Originally posted by odin00
[B]

My point is i would like to see more and more diversity in the biz.I think women should be incouraged to join in our business

My thoughts also......and I didn't mean to imply that gender matters.....it's all about the quality

Evan528

11-28-2001, 07:53 PM

There is a women landscaper who I have seen cutting the same lawn for about 10 years. She pulls a small trailer with a scag and Bunton walk behind with a ford explorer. I drive past this lady several times a year and she works so hard!! The account i see her at always looks immaculate too!

1MajorTom

11-30-2001, 10:07 AM

Quote: I think Jodi lets her husband work for her, once in a while.

LOL

Personally, I think it would be difficult for a woman to be a solo operator without any help at all.

The physical part of running this type of business is really demanding, and the many tasks would be daunting.

Let's take equipment maintenance for instance. That there alone would be a job in itself if you want to keep your equipment maintained properly.

I enjoy working outdoors, and I like the type of freedom this work gives me. I can work 8 hours a day in the field, but anymore is just pushing it for me. I think a woman can be a great asset to a company, but I'm not naive to think that I could run this business totally solo.

GroundKprs

11-30-2001, 12:42 PM

Now Jodi needs to rethink her position (don't anyone tell Matt). The original question was about female business owners. The was an article years ago about a woman in Atlanta area, can't remember whether she was sole owner. But she ran the business side . Think of our usual contact at any site, commercial or residential. 90% of the time or more that contact is female, usually 100% with residential.

For a woman client to be met by a woman contractor, there is an immediate relaxation and easy communication. An initial contact by a female in this setting almost always resulted in a sale in the above business. So Jodi needs to forget some of the grunt work, and go out and get more for Matt to do. But don't forget too much, Jodi; the 4 years Carol and I worked together were 4 really fun years.

As far as female workers, I have talked with a number of other contractors from different areas of the country, and unanimously they state that a female crew will get the most consistent production, the best attention to detail, and the least number of complaints of all crews he has out in the field.

There ARE two outfits around us, that are woman owned. One is called Grounds Groomers, and it is a BIG outfit. They do county and city contracts for bush hogging, as well as a whole lot of maintenance. Another outfit, I see around every once in a while, and I've talked to before, is one with no name or anything on the truck, but this outfit is nothing but bad! They have a truck, much similar to mine, but everything is done in this bright, rather loud yellow. All chromed out, and trailer to match. No one really seems to know who these two girls are, but they know who I'm talking about. Both of these ladies are a couple of dolls. Maybe I'll make it a point to stop and talk to them, when I see them again, and invite them here.:) There is also a girl out in the Davison/ Lapeer area, which is about 15-20 minute east of here, that own a $MULTI$ street and parking lot sweeping company. She's a young girl, and has several trucks working for her. (She was well to do to begin with, I have no idea how she decided to go in to the sweeping industry.) She does various city contracts and commercial work in the area as well.

gogetter

11-30-2001, 06:11 PM

I spoke too soon when I posted on this.
Today, I pulled out of my apartment complex and there was one of those Isuzu trucks with "Andrea's Landscaping" on the front and "Andrea's Lawn Maintenance" on the side.
Didn't see anyone around, but the back door was open and had some sort of rider in it.
Neat.

rebel2002

11-30-2001, 10:13 PM

I don't want to come across wrong...I'm all for women working but what gets my goat are the companies where a womans name is on the business just so the company will recieve government contracts....this is DEAD WRONG in my opinion....I work my butt off and still there are contracts with my state that I do better plans, come in lower, and still don't have a snowballs chance in h#!! to get the contract because i'm not a minority or a woman. As I said I'm all for women in the field or owner/operator just not as a name on a license that is what gets my goat.... Yall thanks for listening to me rave..this topic just hit home when I found out about this contract yesterday that I was denied